Calling it now - The Jets secret run play vs. Vikings

klecko73 · Dec 15, 2006

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/dr_z/12/14/fullback.dive/index.html

Taking a dive
Fullbacks shine as teams bring back classic run play
Posted: Thursday December 14, 2006 12:27PM; Updated: Thursday December 14, 2006 4:06PM

When I was in high school we made our own playbooks. We wrote down every play. The first two that I entered in my book were Dive Left and Dive Right. The dive play was the staple of the Clark Shaughnessy T-formation that was introduced in 1940, the play you simply had to stop if you wanted to play defense.

If you live long enough, you will see everything come around a second time. The dive play has returned to the NFL. It's slightly different now, basically in the contours of the people who are running it. It has been turned over to the big guys, the 250-pound monsters, the blockers, the people who prompt the announcers to say, "Well, that's his one carry this season, haw haw haw."

Among the many innovations Shaughnessy brought in when he revolutionized offensive football in 1940 was the idea of wider splits on the line. The hole was already created. The linemen didn't have to get down and dig their guys out. They could get away with brush-blocking them. Sometimes they'd run a quick trap or a crossblock, hitting the defenders at angles, and then the back, who was set close to the line, was through in a heartbeat, whoosh! Gone.

Old line coaches in the NFL laughed at Shaughnessy. "You run that back through there without a blocking back in front of him, you'll get him killed," the Packers' Curley Lambeau said. But it worked. It dazzled people. Shaughnessy ran it at Stanford and won the Rose Bowl with it. Pete Kmetovic and Hugh Gallarneau hitting the hole so quickly ... how do you stop them? The Bears, who had installed the scheme, under Shaughnessy's tutelage, won the NFL championship in '40 with guys like Ray Nolting and Hall of Famer George McAfee supplying the burst.

People caught up with it. Defensive linemen learned to fight the pressure. Linebackers were plugged in to fill the holes. But for some reason ... maybe it's because of the overall erosion of run-stopping skills, with everyone tuned in to rushing the passer ... the dive play has returned, and with quite interesting results.

Saints vs. Cowboys last Sunday night. The Saints, down 7-0 in the first quarter, have a second and one on their own 21. They're in an I-formation with Mike Karney, a 258-pound fullback, set in front of Reggie Bush. Karney gets the handoff on a quickie off right guard. He bursts through for eight yards. "Maybe that was his first run of the year," John Madden says on TV. It's the old dive play, but with a guy almost the size of two George McAfees carrying the ball.

Coming into the game Karney had carried six times for 10 yards this season, nine for 19 in his previous two years in New Orleans. But it's a different ballgame now.

The drive ends with the Saints on the Cowboys' 2, third down and goal-to-go. They're in a passing formation. Karney, the only back, is offset behind the tackle, in a blitz-pickup position; there are three wideouts and a tight end. Wham! They run the dive over left guard, with the three interior linemen executing their trap and crossblocks so perfectly that the big fullback walks into the end zone.

"Now that is the element of surprise," Madden said.

Yes, but it's an element that's cropping up all over the place this year.

"First time I saw it I said, 'My God, it's the old dive play,'" says Mike Giddings, director of Pro Scout, Inc., a private scouting service for 13 NFL teams. "Who ever thought we'd see it back in vogue? You need linemen quick enough to crossblock it, but it's having some really interesting results. Now the defensive coaches are going to have to teach their guys the same thing high school coaches taught 65 years ago. Stop the dive play."

The thing I love about what's happening is that the big guys, the blockers, are getting their time in the sun. The Chargers' 255-pound Lorenzo Neal, LaDainian Tomlinson's bodyguard and the most famous blocking back in the game, took the ball on a second-and-2, dive play against the Chiefs on Oct. 22. San Diego eventually lost the game, but it wasn't Neal's fault. He burst through for 10 yards.

I guess coaches feel that they must be very selective with this new weapon, because Neal went six games without a carry, but then last weekend against Denver his light went on again. Boom, six yards on a third-and-1 quickie in the first quarter. Boom, a four-yard TD in quarter No. 3. And finally a 10-yard pop on third-and-1. He has carried the ball 24 times this season for 82 yards. He had a year with the Chargers when he carried the ball once, another when he carried twice.

But look way back at the days when Neal was a power back at Fresno State and you'll see a guy with a remarkably quick takeoff, and isn't that exactly what you want when you're running the dive? He finished his college career as the second-leading ball carrier in the school's history. It seems as if the offensive coaches are combing their ranks, finding big blockers with a quick takeoff and giving them a brief respite from their head-knocking duties.

Big guys who can get off the mark quickly always have been around, but often they are converted to something else. Jerome Bettis was an up-back at Notre Dame who could pop it in there in a flash, but in the NFL he was moved back. So was Earl Campbell when he went from Texas to the Oilers.

When the Seahawks beat St. Louis on a 54-yard field goal at the final whistle, their crucial play on the drive came on third-and-1 from the Rams' 41. Dive play to the upback, Shaun Alexander's 245-pound blocker, Mack Strong. Kaboom! Nine yards. Mike Holmgren hasn't been bashful about calling his number. In 31 carries this year, he has run for a 4.7-yard average. Alexander's is 3.5.

You'd think that the Broncos, with their super-quick offensive linemen, would be perfect for mixing in some dives with their patented stretch play, and so they have. Their diver -- until he unfortunately, he broke his leg against the Seahawks two weeks ago -- was Cecil Sapp, a mini-fullback at 229 but a guy who'd immediately hit the full-speed-ahead mode.

In the Broncs' Oct. 29 shootout of the Colts, Sapp set up two touchdowns with an 11-yard burst on third-and-1, and a 28-yarder on the same down and distance, each run carrying to the 1-yard line. In 10 carries this season he had gained 80 yards, 8.0 a pop.

You won't see this from every team. You need a guy who can get off the mark quickly. A big, rumbling runner won't make it work. But sometimes it comes in odd packages. In the fourth quarter of their game against the Vikings, the Patriots had a second-and-2 on their own 28. Dive play to, you guessed it, their 250-pound fullback, Heath Evans. The play was good for 35 yards, and Evans, in his one carry, became the Patriots' leading ball carrier against the run-stingy Vikes.

Right now it's a wonderful phenomenon, the idea of the fashions of our youth coming back all dressed up in new clothes. Pretty soon the defense will catch up to it, of course. And then what will we see? The single-wing? The Notre Dame box? Who knows?
Click to expand...

I'm calling it now...the Jets will succesfully use this play against the Vikings!!!

Hobbes3259 · Dec 15, 2006

You may be right.

Typical of most true fullbacks, Hodgins is graded more on the success of the guys running behind him than his own statistics. He hasn't carried for New York -- he has only 15 rushes his entire career -- and has one catch for 6 yards.

"James has really been one of the most improved players for us," Mangini said Monday. "He's going to continue to challenge for the fullback spot each weekend."
Click to expand...

jetsfan119 · Dec 15, 2006

Whos gonna run it??

-BJ Askew: He is too small to run this play for good yardage, he is a shifty RB who is too big to be a HB and too small to be a FB used in this type of situation.

-James Hodgins: Way too big and cumbersome to run this play

Hobbes3259 · Dec 15, 2006

Hodgins. The Vikings would never expect it.

All Star · Dec 15, 2006

jetsfan119 said: ↑

Whos gonna run it??

-BJ Askew: He is too small to run this play for good yardage, he is a shifty RB who is too big to be a HB and too small to be a FB used in this type of situation.

-James Hodgins: Way too big and cumbersome to run this play
Click to expand...

Askew is 235ish, Cecil Sapp is 229, Askew is fine........

njJETSnj · Dec 15, 2006

*cough* Brian Leonard *cough*

RobA · Dec 15, 2006

njJETSnj said: ↑

*cough* Brian Leonard *cough*
Click to expand...

Sorry, call me clueless but, this name does not ring a bell at all. Is he on practice squad or something?

DevTeam · Dec 15, 2006

RobA said: ↑

Sorry, call me clueless but, this name does not ring a bell at all. Is he on practice squad or something?
Click to expand...

Are you kidding me? You're from Jersey right?

njJETSnj · Dec 16, 2006

RobA said: ↑

Sorry, call me clueless but, this name does not ring a bell at all. Is he on practice squad or something?
Click to expand...

i wasn't sure if you were being sarcastic or not since you're from jersey, but here he is. i tried to post a picture but i don't have enough posts yet. awesome rule. anyway, he's a fb/hb at rutgers and a lot of people on the board have said he's a "mangini guy." i'd love to see the jets take him.

copy and paste to see a leonard leap.

media.lawrence.com/img/photos/2005/11/12/scoreboard_bw_sports_t600.jpg

brianleonard23.com if you'd like to see a highlight clip.

GreenHornet · Dec 16, 2006

klecko73 said: ↑

I'm calling it now...the Jets will succesfully use this play against the Vikings!!!

Click to expand...

I think we would have a better chance of sticking the ball up Ball's butt. Then theguys could carry him into the end zone when nobody is looking. I call this the "Ball in hand play".............:smile:

PennyandtheJets · Dec 17, 2006

RobA said: ↑

Sorry, call me clueless but, this name does not ring a bell at all. Is he on practice squad or something?
Click to expand...

Who cares who Brian Leonard is? I can't BELIEVE the Jets are possibly thinking of handing the ball to anyone other than Leon Washington!!!

vinsjets · Dec 17, 2006

Stacy Tutt will run it. QB turned FB.

Calling it now - The Jets secret run play vs. Vikings

klecko73 Guest

Hobbes3259 Well-Known Member

jetsfan119 New Member

Hobbes3259 Well-Known Member

All Star Active Member

njJETSnj New Member

RobA 2005-2007 TGG.com Most Optimistic Award Winner

DevTeam Well-Known Member

njJETSnj New Member

GreenHornet New Member

PennyandtheJets Well-Known Member

vinsjets Active Member

Share This Page

Useful Searches

Calling it now - The Jets secret run play vs. Vikings

klecko73 Guest

Hobbes3259 Well-Known Member

jetsfan119 New Member

Hobbes3259 Well-Known Member

All Star Active Member

njJETSnj New Member

RobA 2005-2007 TGG.com Most Optimistic Award Winner

DevTeam Well-Known Member

njJETSnj New Member

GreenHornet New Member

PennyandtheJets Well-Known Member

vinsjets Active Member

Share This Page